Some cats look like they’re wearing mittens. Their front paws are wide and round, with an extra toe or two on the inside, like a thumb. They’re called polydactyl cats, from the Greek for many fingers.
In short
| Normal toes | 18: five on each front paw, four on each back paw. |
|---|---|
| Where the extras go | Usually the front paws. |
| Why? | One dominant gene. One parent with it is enough. |
| The record | 28 toes, held by two cats. |
| A problem? | Not usually. Keep an eye on the extra claws. |
A gene that changes the plan
A normal cat has 18 toes: five on each front paw and four on each back one. In a polydactyl cat, a small change in a stretch of DNA that controls how the paw is built tells it to grow extra toes, most often on the front paws. Rarer cats have them on the back paws, or all four.
The gene is dominant. A kitten only needs it from one parent, so where one polydactyl cat lives, whole streets of them can follow.
Sailors’ cats
Polydactyl cats are most common along the east coast of North America, and in south-west England and Wales. That’s no accident. Ships’ cats kept the rats down at sea, and sailors believed the big-pawed ones were luckier and better at keeping their footing. Many sailed out of Boston, and the extra toes went ashore wherever they did.
Hemingway’s cats
In Key West, Florida, a ship’s captain called Stanley Dexter gave the writer Ernest Hemingway a white six-toed kitten, Snow White, from his own ship’s cat.
Her family is still there. Hemingway’s house is now a museum, home to 50 to 60 cats, around half of them with extra toes, all looked after by a vet the museum employs. Each is named after someone famous. Polydactyl cats are often called Hemingway cats because of them.
The record: 28 toes
The record for the most toes on a cat is 28. It was set by Jake, a cat from Ontario, Canada, in 2002, with seven toes on every paw. For more than 20 years nobody matched him. Then in 2025, a ten-month-old kitten called Toby, from Michigan, tied it.
Is it a problem?
Usually not. Polydactyl cats live normal lives, and some seem to use their thumbs to grip toys. The one thing to watch is the extra claws: they don’t always wear down, and can grow round into the paw pad. A pet cat with extra toes needs its claws checked and trimmed now and then.
The Maine Coon breed has lots of polydactyl cats. Some registries count them as their own breed.
Look at the paws
Extra toes are easy to miss on a cat that won’t come close. Next time you photograph a street cat, look at its front feet. Odd-eyed cats are another one to watch for: read cats with odd eyes.
Found a cat in mittens? Snap it with Island of Cats and put it on the map.
